Premier League champions Chelsea will bid for a record-breaking end to the season, beginning against Watford on Monday night.
If Antonio Conte’s men beat Watford and relegated Sunderland on Sunday’s final day, Chelsea would become the first team in the Premier League era to win 30 games in a season.
That would set them up ideally for their bid to complete a double with victory over Arsenal in the May 27th FA Cup final.
After completing the Premier League triumph with last Friday’s 1-0 win at West Brom, Conte faces another challenge in the final week of the league season — balancing sentiment with planning for the Wembley showdown.
John Terry will hope to lift a 16th and final major trophy with Chelsea at Wembley and will have bid farewell to Stamford Bridge by then.
The 36-year-old has 715 appearances and could make three more, if he features in the remaining three games at the end of his 22 years of service.
Head coach Conte sees Terry as understudy to David Luiz in the centre of his three-man defence. And Luiz knows Chelsea must maintain momentum.
“If I say I’m not thinking about winning the double, I am a liar,” Luiz told the club’s website.
“Of course we think about this, but we need to think day by day, rest well, keep ourselves very good in these next two games to have a top performance against Arsenal.
“It will be a difficult game against a fantastic team, so we need to be at a high level.”
Terry was an unused substitute at West Brom and has not started in the Premier League since the September 11 draw with Swansea.
Terry has been on the bench 11 times since last starting — in the FA Cup win at Wolves — appearing twice in the final minutes. Twice he was omitted from the matchday squad altogether.
Michy Batshauyi could get his first Premier League start against Watford after scoring the title-clinching goal on his 18th substitute appearance.
The striker, a £33million signing from Marseille last summer, had been demonstrating fragile confidence.
But his first Premier League goal since August being the decisive one in the title pursuit will have boosted that.
And midfielder N’Golo Kante could return after missing out on a Premier League appearance for a third time this season.
Watford manager Walter Mazzarri remains determined his players will not get swept up in the title celebrations at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues will be presented with the trophy after the Sunderland game, but there will be a party mood nonetheless.
Mazzarri said: “They have to celebrate over the weekend and don’t think about our game.
“We have to play as we did (in last Friday’s 1-0 loss at Everton) at Chelsea.
“The nice thing in England is teams never give up until it is finished.”
